Before the genius film director Max Ophüls lent his name to the distinctive style of elegantly smooth camera and complex crane and dolly sweeps, there was Hanns Schwarz. The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna was his masterpiece, superb in every way and often referenced with the adjective “Ophulsian”—high praise indeed. Set in Czarist St. Petersburg, The Wonderful Lie is the story of the mistress (Brigitte Helm) of an upper class general who gives up her pampered life for the love of a lowly lieutenant. Print from George Eastman House

Accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Live English translation read by Frank Buxton